William Henry was the third son of George III, and for most of his life nobody expected him to be king. At thirteen his father sent him to sea as a midshipman, and he served in the Royal Navy through the American War of Independence. He was at the Battle of Cape St Vincent in […]

George Augustus Frederick was the eldest of the fifteen children of George III and Queen Charlotte, and he became Prince of Wales a few days after he was born. His father, a frugal, pious family man, brought up his sons under a strict regime of lessons and plain food. The result, in George's case, was […]

George Augustus was ten years old when his father divorced his mother and locked her away at Ahlden. He never saw her again, and he never forgave his father. He grew up short, fair and hot-tempered, with a passion for military uniform and a mind for detail: he knew the genealogy of every royal house […]

When Queen Anne died on 1 August 1714, more than fifty people had a stronger hereditary claim to her throne than George Louis, Elector of Hanover. Nearly all of them were Catholics. The Act of Settlement of 1701 had barred Catholics from the crown and settled it instead on the Protestant descendants of George's mother, […]

Detailed Family Tree Simplified Version

King George III reigned from 25 October 1760 until 29th January 1820, a total of 59 years, 3 months and 2 days. From the date he ascended to the throne until 1 January 1801, he was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland. After 1801 George was King of the United Kingdom of Great […]

Reigning from 1837 until her death in 1901, Queen Victoria gave her name to the Victorian era and oversaw the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland through the height of the British Empire. Her 63-year reign was the longest of any British monarch up to that point. She was the daughter of Edward, Duke […]

Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was born in Coburg on 16 December 1790. He was the youngest child of Duke Franz-Friedrich of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Countess Augusta of Reuss-Ebersdorf. He was a younger son of a princely house from the depths of the Thuringian woods that had little wealth or consequence to offer even the heir. He […]